100 Days Smarter!

Today we celebrated our 100th day of school. It was also an early dismissal day so we crammed as much fun into our 100th day as possible! The students made hats this morning in honor of the day.

We also learned about the 100s chart and looked for patterns. Students used cereal to cover every number on the chart and then made necklaces.

Students also worked together to make a paper chain with 100 links. They worked with the students at their table to put 20 links together... Then we made one big chain with all the links.

Students then worked in groups of 3 to count out 100 objects (into 10s) and then had to use ALL of the objects to build a structure.

It was a great 100th day! Tomorrow we will be learning about Bing Davis and making art pieces to honor Black History month and decorate our classroom door.

Fun With Snow

Tuesday was an exciting day in our room because it was the first day that we got to color in SNOW on our daily weather graph! We kept a watch out our window all day... Once it was so white we couldn't even see.

We have been switching from our bakery investigation to kitchen chemistry. This week we learned about solids, liquids and gases so on Tuesday we did a little experiment with the snow.  Each student filled a cup with snow and we drew a line to show where the top was in the cup. Then we asked students if they thought the melted snow (water) would be at the same level, at a higher level or a lower level.  Here are their predictions about the water level:

We also asked if they thought the water would be clean or dirty!

On Wednesday we stayed home for a snow/cold day. When we came back on Thursday all the snow was melted and there was hardly any water in the cup. We talked about what happened and we also noticed that there was a little bit of dirt in some of our cups. It was a fun, quick experience for the students and they had fun collecting (and eating!) the snow.

"Wintery" Centers and Team Work

Winter Centers
Along with our baking investigation we had a few winter centers in the classroom.  One was our building area.  In this area students created a winter wonderland complete with fake snow and figurines!  Another was our loose parts area.  Here, students created "masterpieces" with gingerbread men and other winter/holiday inspired items.

Team Work

Since we were out of school on break and we have gotten several new students since December, we wanted to review the concept of team work.  We did many activities this week including floor puzzles, completing tasks together and even using play time to work as a team.  Here are some photos of our students working together to practice team work:

Our Bakery Investigation

A few months ago our students showed interest in cooking and baking.  We decided that our next investigation would be a bakery study.  We began our investigation this time by taking our field trip first and then investigating and exploring in the classroom.  Here is our journey through the bakery investigation.

Field Trip to Ele' Cake Co.
To begin our study, we took a trip to the Ele' Cake Co.  Before we went, we made an EKW about bakeries and made a list of questions we might ask on the trip.  It was a great trip and the students learned a lot about the items sold in a bakery and what happens in the back to make the treats.  When they were done with the tour, students got to make a delicious cookie using the icing tubes and decorations!

Students got to see all of the cakes and treats in the display case.

They also got to see how orders are taken by computer and phone.

We went in the back and got to see how many of the treats were made and stored.

Students then got to make their own special cookie in the party room!

Creating A Bakery 
The next day, students drew illustrations of what they thought our classroom bakery should look like.  We also made signs to display the different treats that would be sold in our pretend bakery.

Following a Recipe
We were also transitioning from our pumpkin investigation so students made chocolate chip pumpkin bread with Ms. West.  They had to follow a recipe to make sure all of the ingredients were included.  They did great and the bread was delicious!

Bakery Inspired Centers
Our centers this time included:

• Home Living- Pretend Bakery
• Play-Dough- Baking Station
• Art- Painting/Designing Treats
• Sensory Table- Ice Cream Shop
• Math Area- Counting and Patterning Using Treats

(We also had some holiday inspired centers in our reading and writing areas)

Here are some pictures of the students working in each area:

Home Living-Pretend Bakery

In our pretend bakery, the students had made signs and we added all the things they thought they would need.  I also worked to build a display case so they could see all the treats.  We had a cash register, order pads, aprons, mittens, and even party supplies on display.

This is a pretend oven I made for them to be able to fit their pans in... I just reused an old bread box.

This is the display case I worked on.

Play-Dough- Baking Station

This was just a space that students went when they had free time.  They used play-dough along with tools, bowls, plates and pans to make some pretty neat treats.

Art Area- Designing/Painting Treats

In the art area, students had outlines of different treats and real pictures of treats found in bakeries.  They either used one of the pictures to make a model or designed their own treat.

Here are some of the students paintings hanging in the hallway.

Sensory Table- Ice Cream Shop

To go along with our treat and "shop/store" study, our sensory table was set up as an ice cream shop.  I will have to admit I was hesitant on this one... but they loved it!  We put bowls, cups, scoopers, pitchers and pretend ice cream decorations on the shelves and filled the table with cotton balls.  They made some pretty sweet ice cream treats!

Math Area- Counting and Patterning with Treats
In our math area, students used ten frame pans to count out gingerbread men, counted out "marshmallows" for hot chocolate double ten frames and made candy cane patterns with pipe cleaners and beads to hang on our classroom Christmas tree.

Making Models- Air Dry Clay Treats

Our project making time for this investigation was making treats with air dry clay.  First students signed up for the treat they wanted to make which determined their center groups for this rotation.  Then we used photographs to choose the treat each student in the group wanted to make.  Students created the treat with clay and we let them dry over the break.  We also used old electrical spools to paint display stands.  This week we painted the treats and students used a word to describe their treat.  They did a fabulous job.  Here are the students making and painting the treats and photos of them displayed in our hallway:

Next Steps

Our next step this week is to discuss solids, liquids and gases as we use more recipes to make mixes and see how chemical properties change.  We will also do our science fair project which will be a kitchen chemistry project.